Job summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Health Care Assistant to join our team in 5D Whiston Hospital

5D has 25 in-patient beds and also a specialist gym area for rehabilitation and group therapy. The main aim of ward 5D is to provide specialist rehabilitation for patients with a stroke, this is delivered by our multi-disciplinary team of Doctors, Nurses and therapists along with invaluable support of the National Stroke Association.

Main duties of the job
The Health Care Support Worker (HCSW) will:

• Undertake personal care duties for patients within the care setting accessing supervision from registered healthcare practitioner. Personal care refers to delivery of personal hygiene and assisting with feeding, not requiring clinical skills.
• Record patient's personal care information in accordance with local and trust policies.
• Work with all members of the multi-disciplinary team to deliver the Trust's vision and values providing safe, high quality compassionate, person centred care.
• Demonstrate ward routine to new employees in own work area, where required.

About us
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 10,500 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

Our services:

Acute Care
Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care
Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services
Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services
We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme.

Job responsibilities
Please find attached Job Description and Person Specification for main responsibilities and requirements.

Person Specification
Our Values
Essential

• We are Kind
• We are Open
• We are Inclusive

Qualifications
Essential

• Completion of Trust Care Certificate within 4 months of appointment
• Basic literacy and numeracy skills

Desirable

• NVQ level 2 Health and Social Care or equivalent
• Care Certificate (equivalent to level 1)

Knowledge and Experience
Essential

• Knowledge of personal care and related procedures
• Experience of working in a team

Desirable

• Experience of working in a patient care/health related role

Skills
Essential

• Ability to communicate effectively in both verbal and written formats
• Good interpersonal skills
• Able to work within a team
• Able to accept direction and guidance
• Aware of own limitations
• Flexible in working hours
• Able to prioritise own workload and manage time effectively
• Flexible, adaptable and responsive to change
• Reliable and professional
• Ability to cope in stressful and challenging situations
• Inclusive and non-judgmental
• Punctual, motivated and committed
• Effective role model demonstrating Trust values
• Basic IT skills

Other
Essential

• Frequent, moderate effort for several short periods during the shift such as manual handling patients to supporting patients personal care
• Occasional requirement for concentration, with few competing demands for attention
• Aware that developing resilience to distressing situations is necessary without losing the ability to care compassionately
• Aware of the process for accessing staff health and wellbeing support
• Occasional exposure to distressing situations which may care of chronic health conditions, patient end of life care/ care after death
• Able to carry out direct personal care as required on ward or department
• Occasional exposure to patients with challenging behaviours

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.